1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a laundry treatment machine.
2. Background
Generally, laundry treatment machines refer to various apparatuses that treat laundry by applying physical and chemical actions to laundry. Examples of laundry treatment machines include a washing machine that separates contaminants from clothing and bedding (hereinafter, referred to as laundry) using chemical decomposition of water and detergent and mechanical action such as friction between water and laundry, a drying machine that dehydrates and dries wet laundry, and a refresher that sprays heated vapor to laundry to unwrinkle or sterilize laundry.
These laundry treatment machines include a main body in which laundry is treated and a lid or a door pivotably coupled to the main body to open and close a laundry loading hole. In this case, when the lid is closed, the lid may strongly hit the main body, affecting the durability of a product. Also, since the lid is formed of a metallic material or includes a glass to form a lid window, the weight of the lid increases. For these reasons, a large force is needed for a user to open the lid, and when the lid is closed, the lid may strongly hit the main body.
In order to overcome the foregoing limitations, there is a typical hinge device in which an elastic member is deformed due to the rotation of the lid and the pivoting speed of the lid is decelerated by a restoring force of the deformed elastic member. However, this hinge device has a limitation in that a repulsive force from the elastic member, i.e., a braking force for decelerating the pivoting speed of the lid cannot be uniformly delivered, causing shaking of the lid.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.